25 Disturbing Creepy True Stories

A creepy true story can be more terrifying than a fictionalized one. The knowledge that these horrors actually took place puts an unsettling feeling in our stomachs, causing us to toss and turn at night.

From brutal serial killers to creepy stalkers, there’s been a number of scariest true stories through human history. Of course, monsters aren’t always involved. Sometimes all it takes for true life horror stories to emerge is for tragedy to strike or for a mystery to go unsolved. Whatever the case may be, here are 25 Disturbing Creepy True Stories.

Subscribe to List25

25

Watcher

When a New Jersey family moved into their new 1905 Colonial-style home, they received several threatening and creepy letters from someone called “The Watcher.” In the letters, the author referred to the families three children by saying, “the young blood you have brought to me” and “Have they found out what’s in the walls yet?” Fearing for their lives, the Broaddus family moved out and sued the former owners for not telling them about the stalker.

24

Trapped

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, it was discovered by the military that sailors were trapped in the sunken USS West Virginia. Realizing there was nothing they could do to rescue the survivors, they told their families they died during the attack. Months later, when they finally got inside, they found three men who’d found an airlock that survived for 16 days. It’s said no one wanted to guard the USS West Virginia because they could hear the banging of those trapped inside.

23

Issei Sagawa

Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/issei-sagawa

This man is a cannibal from Japan that murdered and ate his friend in 1981 after years of dreaming about it. He said he’d really wanted to eat her living flesh. What’s even more creepy and disturbing is he never went to jail for it and lives a free man in Tokyo. He said he eventually wants to eat humans again.

22

Lamprey Nightmare

In 2015, a creepy and strange thing happened to Fairbanks residents in Alaska, they found blood-sucking lamprey’s wiggling around on land, far from the water. Several accounts claim they found one in a parking lot and on someone’s front lawn. No one really knows how they got out there, but wildlife officials think maybe seagulls picked them up and dropped them off later.

21

Finger

This creepy story brings a whole new meaning to the Arby’s catchphrase “we have the meats.” In 2012, a young boy found a finger inside his Arby’s sandwich when he bit into a piece of it. The finger belonged to an employee who sliced her finger while using a meat slicer and left it without telling anyone about it.

20

Human Hand

While cleaning out her grandparent’s attic in Tampa, Mike Lopez’s sister came across a disturbing find – a skeletal human hand with a ring on it. It was hidden in a box along with a map and gold coins. Even more disturbing, no one has been able to find out whose hand it was and if it’s actually human after all.

19

Bear Brook Murders

Source: http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bear_Brook_Remains

In 1985, a hunter discovered a 55-gallon drum in Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire. Inside, he found the bodies of a young 20-year-old woman and a small child, age 5 to 11. For years, authorities couldn’t identify the bodies despite solid leads. Then, fifteen years later, another barrel was discovered in the same spot. Two children were found inside this drum and they believe they’re related to the woman. Police believe a man named Robert Evans could be the killer but the case is still unresolved.

18

Screams in a Casket

In Honduras, a 16-year-old started foaming at the mouth and was rushed to the hospital before being declared dead by the doctors. A day after her funeral and burial, her husband visited the grave and, to his surprise, heard banging and screams from within the casket. When family members tried to rescue her, they were too late. She died a second time and they had to rebury the casket.

17

Marcel Petiot

Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcel-Petiot

This French serial killer took advantage of Jewish refugees during World War II by charging them a fee to escape Europe. He lured them into his home, injected them with poison, saying it was a vaccine, and watched them die. Afterward, he plundered their things and disposed of their bodies in his home furnace. Nearly 30 corpses were found in his home after the liberation of France, and he was dubbed, “Doctor Satan.”

16

Hiding in Attic

In Tokyo, a man suspected he was a victim of several burglaries after food in his refrigerator went missing. After installing security cameras around his house, he caught a woman walking around his home while he was gone. Turns out, she was a homeless woman who took residence in his home when he left the door unlocked and stayed there without his knowledge.

15

Hinterkaifeck

In 1922, it was discovered that every member of the family living at this farm located in rural Germany, plus the maid, was brutally murdered with a pickax. They were all lured in the barn one-by-one, and there’s evidence one of the younger girls was so terrified, she pulled out her own hair. Afterward, the killer remained at the farm for several days. As the farm animals were fed and neighbors claimed to see smoke from the fireplace, they never checked in on them. After 100 suspects were interviewed, no one was arrested and the killer was never caught.

14

Overtoun Bridge

This bridge, located near Dumbarton in Scotland, has had over fifty reports of dogs suddenly running and jumping off the bridge to their deaths. Hundreds more have jumped but survived the event. Due to this, the bridge is also called “Dog suicide bridge.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of rumors have spread about paranormal activity in the area.

13

Pig Farmer

This Canadian serial killer would lure sex workers from Vancouver’s red light district back to his pig farm. There, he would have sex with them before murdering them, dismembering their bodies, and feeding the parts to his pigs. Sometimes he would grind up the parts into mince, mix it with animal meat, and sell it to the public. He murdered 49 women in total and went on record saying he wanted to do one more.

12

The Unicorn Killer

Ira Einhorn, also known as the Unicorn Killer, murdered his girlfriend in 1977 after she came over to collect her things during a tumultuous breakup. He stuffed her in a trunk and left her there for eighteen months. After neighbors complained about a smell, the authorities found her, but Einhorn fled to Europe and remained there for over twenty years. He now serves a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

11

In the Walls

When they decided to insulate their home, a family living in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, didn’t expect what they’d find inside the already insulating the walls – animal carcasses. The family found dozens of the animal carcasses wrapped in old newspapers from the 30’s and 40’s. Supposedly, back then, a ritual called “powwowing” or dutch magic was performed for healing.

10

Chimney

Joshua Vernon Maddux, 18, went missing for over a decade. A nature lover, he loved taking hikes. The last anyone saw him was at his home before saying he wanted to go for a walk. Recently, his body was found stashed up a chimney in an abandoned cabin only two blocks away from his home. It remains a mystery how he ended up there, but some think he tried to get inside the cabin by going down the chimney and got stuck.

9

Lawn Figures

A Southern California homeowner woke up one morning to find lawn figures left on her lawn. At first, she figured it was a prank but became more concerned as more started showing up, looking directly at the front door. Over time, 54 lawn animals ended up on her lawn. As of reporting, the culprit hadn’t been found.

8

Cut and Burn

St. Petersburg, Florida, teacher Danielle Harkins met teenagers at the St. Petersburg Pier one night and gathered them around a fire. There, she instructed them to cut themselves to release the demons inside them and then to burn the wounds so the demons couldn’t return. In one case, she doused a boys hand in perfume and set it on fire. Harkins was eventually arrested.

7

Hanging

On Halloween in Frederica, Delaware, several people drove past a body hanging from a tree, believing it was a decoration. In fact, it was the body of a local 42-year old woman. She’d been hanging there for several hours before people discovered it was not a decoration. Authorities believe the woman had climbed the tree and hung herself.

6

Elisa Lam

After Cecil Hotel guests complained about poor water pressure and a weird taste in the water, authorities discovered the source of the problem – the dead body of Elisa Lam. She had been found in one of their water tanks, naked. Her clothes and room key were also inside but not her cell phone. While officials claimed her cause of death was suicide, armchair sleuths weren’t as convinced and have pointed to her strange behavior in an elevator video as evidence something else was going on.

5

June and Jennifer Gibbons

Nicknamed “The Silent Twins,” these twin sisters formed an unhealthy bond, isolating themselves from their family, friends, and the entire outside world. They created their own language, never spoke to anyone but themselves, and became fully isolated. This lead to psychiatric trauma resulting in criminal behavior and a five-week spree of vandalism and arson. They were detained for 11-years in a psychiatric hospital and during their time, Jennifer told June one of them had to die for the other to survive. Right before their release from the hospital, Jennifer died.

4

The Black Doodler

In the 70’s, a serial killer stalked the streets of San Francisco’s gay community with a calling card. He’d sketch a portrait of his victim at bars before striking up conversations and then leaving with them. Once he had them alone, he’d stab them to death. His last victim was in 1975. It’s been roughly forty year since, and he’s never been caught. Authorities believed he’s likely butchered up to 14 people.

3

Granny Killer

Also known as John Wayne Glover, this serial killer in Australia specifically targeted elderly women, hence the nickname. Usually, he’d wait while they were returning from shopping, sneak up, and strike a blow in the back of their heads with a hammer. He was careful to strike just enough to kill them but not to get too much blood everywhere. Eventually caught, he was sentenced to life in prison but committed suicide in 2005.

2

Beheading on Greyhound

In 2008, Tim McClean was on a greyhound bus heading for Winnipeg, minding his own business when a man sitting next to him stabbed him, beheaded him, and started to eat his flesh. The man’s name was Will Baker, a man dealing with untreated schizophrenia.

1

The Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping

In the summer of 1976, a school bus driver and 26 children were driving down the road in Chowchilla, California, when they stopped for a broken-down van blocking the way. Armed masked men abducted all of them, taking them to a quarry in Livermore and put them all in a buried box truck. After sixteen hours, the bus driver and children were able to dig themselves out and escape, contacting the authorities in the process. The masked men were arrested and both given life sentences.

Site Links

List25.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program
designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.